– Livan Hernandez had his contract purchased so he can now make his season debut this afternoon against the Mets.

– Scott Olsen is going to be recalled from Syracuse and most likely start Thursday's game in Philadelphia, at which point a reliever will need to be demoted.

– Mike Morse was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained calf.

– Roger Bernadina was recalled from Class AAA Syracuse to take Morse's spot and give Jim Riggleman another healthy body off the bench.

– Ryan Zimmerman is out of the lineup with a tight hamstring and will probably miss tomorrow's game in Philadelphia as well.

– Adam Kennedy is starting at third base despite having not played a single inning there during spring training. (He did, however, start 82 games at third base last season for the A's.)

– Oh yeah, and some guy named Strasburg is making his minor-league debut for Class AA Harrisburg this afternoon. (I'll have some updates on him throughout the day, with reports from my special correspondents in Altoona. One thing to note: Strasburg will beRead more »

Olsen will start Thursday against the Phillies even though that would be Lannan's normal start if he pitched every fifth day? Is that because they don't want the Phillies damaging Lannan's psyche any further so early in the season?

Options don't work that way. Think of option years, not an option as a single act. Olsen can go back and forth this year as often as the Nats want. He just can't be sent down next year without going through waivers.

Oh brother, "…If he's got a no-hitter through five but he's reached his pitch limit, that's it, he's out…." Could we get a little grip here. Hype is one thing, but the expectations might be a little bit high.Let's dial it down just a wee bit.

I was ripping Willy Taveras before the beginning of the year. Now, it's only been 5 games (and one at-bat), but if he is willing to take walks and try to get on base, then I take back everything I said about him. Of course, I am listening on the radio today (and for the next month), so I'm not sure if the pitches he took were just simply unhittable or if he really had a good eye. To summarize my point, if he performs as an average hitter this year, then I gladly welcome him to the team.

Can someone tell me why exactly Livo was pulled with a shutout bid going? His pitch count wasn't even close to what he's capable of. Now we're only up by 3; not enough of a cushion to make me feel relaxed.

"In fact, it looks like K-Rod may have started it, saying something as Harris trotted down the line."Heh. MASN showed K-Rod approaching Harris, and you could easily see what he was saying. As the late George Carlin put it, he used the two-word phrase that's "used to hurt people. It's a heavy – it's the one you save for the end of the argument."And he said it at least three times.

Yeah, "F-Rod" suits him better than "K-Rod," methinks. It looked to me like Willie may have been saying something like "golly gee willikers, that really hurt" as he went up the line.In the post-game, Riggleman said that Livo told him he was gassed.